Manufacturing nonprofit will announce 2025 Connecticut Manufacturing Innovation Fund Grant Winners at April event
FORGE, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that helps manufacturing startups reduce risk, decrease failure rates, and speed pathways to production, is set to announce the winners of the 2025 Connecticut FORGE Product Development Funding Program, backed by the The Connecticut Office of Manufacturing Manufacturing Innovation Fund (MIF). Make It Here in CT, scheduled for April 8, 2025 at the Gyre9 headquarters in Southbury, CT, will highlight FORGE’s latest investments in the local manufacturing and startup supply chain. Through this product development program, startups receive non-dilutive grants in the range of $30,000 and $100,000 to resolve product development barriers to contract with Connecticut manufacturers and suppliers.
Make It Here in CT will feature keynote speaker Paul Lavoie, Chief Manufacturing Officer of the State of Connecticut, and a panel of local startup leaders. The startups will discuss how FORGE’s introductions helped them establish critical connections to Connecticut suppliers. Among these panelists will be Floe, whom FORGE awarded a Product Development Grant of more than $30,000 to support their climatetech product development. Attendees will tour the Gyre9 plant to see how this type of non-dilutive funding furthers cutting-edge product development and manufacturing processes in Connecticut, improving revenues and engagement. Those interested in attending are invited to register here.
In just two years, FORGE has worked with more than 100 manufacturers and 140 startups in the state of Connecticut. Grantees of the FORGE Product Development Funding Program are selected from a competitive pool of Connecticut hardtech manufacturing startups with prototypes and a clear plan for using the funds to accelerate production, overcome scaling challenges, and contract with Connecticut manufacturers and suppliers.
The Connecticut Office of Manufacturing Manufacturing Innovation Fund (MIF) provides this funding to support the growth, innovation, and progress of the advanced manufacturing sector in the state. “Partnering with the Connecticut Office of Manufacturing enables us to equip local startups with the resources and connections they need to manufacture their products locally, rather than offshoring,” said Adam Rodrigues, Vice President of FORGE. “By ensuring that the innovators who invent physical products here are supported and empowered to make them here, we’re strengthening Connecticut’s manufacturing ecosystem alongside our many partners.”
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